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S1:E10 - Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (2024 Film)
49 Plays7 months ago
In this episode of Based on a Book, we are covering the first book in Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series and the 2024 Netflix adaptation starring Joey King. Join us as we discuss Tally’s journey through the dystopian playground of sharp cheekbones and questionable ethics. We dive into the drama, dodgy CGI (we're talking about you hoverboard scenes), and serious monologues on beauty standards in the world of Uglies. Find out if we think this adaptation made the cut or needed a serious makeover!
Hosted by Keri with co-hosts Lindsey and Crystal.
Content Warnings: Body image and beauty standards, violence, mind control and manipulation, social discrimination, and rebellion and government oppression
Books & Adaptations Mentioned:
Question of the Episode:
- Would you choose to stay 'ugly' and keep your individuality, or become 'pretty' but lose some of your personality?
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Intro/Outro Music: Intro/Outro Music - Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!)
Thanks for listening to “Based on a Book” - see you in the next chapter!
Chapters:
(00:00) Introductions and Synopsis
(02:40) Ratings (Book and Movie) and Non-Spoiler Reviews
(08:49) “Convincing” Spoiler Warning - Let Us Save You the Trouble
(09:38) Uglies World Crash Course
(18:00) Book vs. Movie Breakdown
(1:23:40) Question of the Episode
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Hosts' Self-Descriptions
00:00:09
Speaker
Hello, pretties. And welcome to episode 10 of Based on a Book, a podcast for those who love a good makeover, but not the government-mandated kind. Now, la let's introduce the Pretty Committee. I'm Carrie, and I no longer trust my instincts. I'm Lindsay, and I'm already pretty. Pretty awkward. that I'm Crystal. Apparently, I'm a crumbly now.
Overview of 'Uglies' and Netflix Adaptation
00:00:41
Speaker
In this episode, we are covering Uglies by Scott Westerfeld in the brand new 2024 Netflix movie adaptation, which includes a cast of characters that we all have to pretend are ugly and 15 years old.
00:01:01
Speaker
yeah I'm like, Joey King, I'm pretty sure you're in your 20s. Yeah, I have thought.
00:01:10
Speaker
We all have to pretend that you're ugly. OK, interesting. So I'm just going to go right into setting the scene. This is book one in what I believe is a trilogy.
00:01:22
Speaker
So there are like ah additional spinoffs of this series. And I believe the fourth book is like extra scenes of the book or maybe like a spinoff of the extra character. But the first three books are surrounded by Tally. So to set the scene, it is set in a feature dystopian world where everyone undergoes intense cosmetic surgery at age 16 to become a pretty.
00:01:50
Speaker
which is a perfect and beautiful version of themselves.
World-Building in 'Uglies' Universe
00:01:53
Speaker
Tali Youngbun, about to turn 16 years old, can't wait for her own transformation. But when her rebellious friend Shae decides to run away rather than conform to the operation, Tali is faced with an impossible choice. Find a friend and betray her ideals or stay loyal to her society's vision of beauty and perfection. As Tali uncovers secrets about the government's true intentions,
00:02:18
Speaker
She begins to question everything she's been told. Her journey challenges not only the cost of beauty, but the meaning of identity, freedom and true friendship. There's bubbly parties, perfect cheekbones and tons of hoverboarding. So let's get into ratings and quick non-spoiler reviews. Crystal, I want to start with you. So I went back and forth between the physical copy and the audio book and I will say, I feel like the this, I know that this is young adult. I know that, but I feel like the narrator for the audio book, and I'm sorry, I did not write down her name, read it like she was reading it to small children. So like a sentence like, they got on the hoverboard and went across the river. And it was just like, okay, like I get that this is young adult.
00:03:16
Speaker
but maybe don't talk to us like we're small children. Yeah. So that kind of put me off and I went i went back to the the physical copy as soon as I could. I give this book a solid one. It it just, I wanted to- Oh my. i'm i I want, and i and honestly, it only got the one because I feel like there is a solid potential for a story within this dystopian world, within this setting. But this was not it. This was so poorly written. In fact, like the names of the cities with no spoilers are like,
00:04:05
Speaker
I have a list of the ones that they mentioned. Crumblyville. Apparently that's where the old people live. Thank you. Um, new pretty town, Uglyville and the rusty ruins. And I feel like this is one of those things where when you're writing a story and you haven't come up with the perfect name, so you use a filler name, just something generic like Uglyville. And at some point when you're done with the story, you're going to control F. You're going to search and find, and then you're going to replace. It's like something you wrote in middle school. It was like a little filler. And then he never went back and replaced that. And it was so.
00:04:41
Speaker
Like that alone to me was so off putting as I'm reading this book. It was like an insult to the intelligence of not just like, i I think he was trying to like make a statement about the intelligence of the overall population of this world, but it really insulted the reader. Like you you don't think that we could remember the names of cities, you know? that yeah so And in the whole book is that way.
00:05:06
Speaker
And I'm not going to say it was a struggle to read. It was not that hard to read. It just was a waste of my time. So that's how I feel about that. Okay, Lindsay. Crystal nailed it. Like that was pretty much what I had to say. It's like the simplistic writing really put me off, but for my rating, like the first half of the book is probably like two. And then you get to about 50% and I bumped it up to like three and a half uglies.
00:05:34
Speaker
And I say half because Tali's only half ugly. Davis thinks she's beautiful. Oh, wow. I feel like that's so generous because I gave it... Oh, my. Oh, Lord. We're falling apart already. I gave it 2.25 because there I was not given a 2.5 because you know how I am about my writing.
00:06:04
Speaker
2.25 angsty teenagers. I, you know, respect to those who love this series because I know i I feel it whenever you read like these young adult books, like when you were younger, I probably would have ate this shit up whenever I was reading the Hunger Games, you know, in high school or like when I was reading like Mortal Instruments or something.
00:06:33
Speaker
I would have ate this up. But reading it right now, I literally, i it couldn't have ended faster for me. yeah I could not stand this book. And it was still like somewhat bingeable.
00:06:52
Speaker
Like it was very easy to read. Yeah. But the voice was so robotic. Yeah. And it was just like, these are the events that are happening and this is how it's happening. And we're just doing and we're just going through the motion. And even though we're doing. Yeah. And even the like chaotic moments where you're supposed to be like high anxiety. Yeah. You didn't really feel yeah that you did. I feel like there was no true like genuine emotion in this book. Like you didn't connect with the characters. Mm hmm. Maybe I don't know where it was, but at no point did I feel anything throughout this whole book. Yeah. And usually we do a final verdict at the end. But I think mine's pretty obvious. Yeah, since we're going to be going through
00:07:42
Speaker
Uh, like, I feel like you're going to feel what the final verdict is as we go through this book. I want us to each rate the movie before we go into spoilers. Okay. So my personal rating of the movie is I'm going to give it a whopping zero. Oh. I was going to give it a one. A zero. the book So like, i'd honestly, it did the same as the book, which I guess technically makes that a good thing.
00:08:13
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know, but it's a one in my mind, so. One hoverboard. Too much hoverboarding, in my opinion. Way too much. hurt One bungee vest. I do want one of whatever that was. I want one of those. That sounds like pretty fine. I would so wrap it around my teeth and throw them.
00:08:34
Speaker
I'm going to give it two crash bracelets. Okay. Okay. Hoverboard accessories. All right, so if we haven't convinced you to read it.
00:08:51
Speaker
go do that I will say it is worth reading or watching just to be able to have this conversation. Yeah. This part is fun. Or you don't have to do that and you can just stick with us and we'll tell you how
Social Structure & Beauty Ideals
00:09:05
Speaker
it went. Pretty much. By the end of this episode, you'll be able to tell everyone exactly what happens in the story. Exactly, exactly. We'll tell you exactly what happened in the book, exactly what happened in the movie, so you don't have to go through the pain. Okay? Not a suffer for you. Yeah. Full spoilers ahead.
00:09:26
Speaker
So we're about to get into a full book versus movie breakdown. But first things first, I'm going to go through a world uglies world crash course. Thank you.
00:09:39
Speaker
Yeah, we're going to go through a crash course right to take notes to figure out not because it was hard, but because a lot of the names are kind of similar and I had to like or they just get casually mentioned one time and then brought up again later. And so I had to wait a minute. Hold on. So this is a disclaimer that I have only read the first book. I've not read the rest of the series. So this is only the knowledge that I have based on the first book. So.
00:10:08
Speaker
What I have from the first book is that this is set like 300 years in the future and society is broken down in the following. We have uglies that live in Uglyville until you turn 16 years old. Then you have pretties. New pretty. New well yeah well you have just like pretties, but then they're divided amongst themselves. Right. Whether you have new pretties, middle pretties, and crumblies. Well, you have late pretty, which apparently is like if you choose to continue with cosmetic surgeries and stuff, even in old age, you could be late pretty. Yeah. But if you stop doing the surgeries, then you're crumbly. Yeah. So uglies, there's also like littlies or something. And we're like, OK.
00:11:04
Speaker
The way I understand that is until you're 12, you're a little e, which I think is really interesting because it's like they say when you're a child, you don't automatically get the ugly label.
00:11:17
Speaker
Although everyone will be an ugly at 12 years old. When you're a kid, we're not judging you. We're not looking at you like that. We're not giving you a label. We're not pointing out your flaws. Children are innocent and they get a pass. And I think that's the only redeeming quality of this whole dystopian future.
00:11:38
Speaker
Yeah. And then the second you turn 12, you're called ugly, ugly, ugly, your parents' house. And you live in some and you live in ugly bill. You live in ugly, ugly and you live in ugly bill. And apparently such a child insult. Yeah. So you're in ugly bill. And there is a river with a bridge that connects to New Pretty Town in Uglyville is depressing, sad, there's like no lighting over there. It's gray, it's drab, it's literally dark. There's no architecture, no architectural design. And then New Pretty Town across the street, across the river, is like fireworks. People are bungee jumping off buildings. It's like a rave over there. Gardens and like light shows. and There's lights everywhere. And you get to like look out your window when you're living in Uglyville
00:12:34
Speaker
and just like be sad out your window looking over across the street at New Pretty Town and look at all of them having a great fun time. So that's the life of uglies and pretty. And whenever you're a new pretty, your whole soul job is just being pretty. That's all you do. You're pretty and you party. That's your main job. You're just having fun, you know, that stuff. And then when you're like middle pretty, you like you're an adult, you get a job. You get a job. Yeah.
00:13:04
Speaker
crumblies, you're older, you're living in the suburbs or something. Then we have- I think I picked up in the book, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I picked up in the book that when you're 16, you get that first big surgery and that's when you become new pretty. But there are more surgeries between new pretty and middle pretty and middle pretty and late pretty. They mentioned it a couple of times, but they don't go into a lot of detail.
00:13:30
Speaker
yeah about like when they when they decide what your job is going to be you might have a new surgery or I guess depending on like what part of the world you're going to be in or whatever they might give you different surgeries so they do talk about how like you have that one major surgery when you're 16 and it fixes everything and you're perfect and you're new pretty but then once we kind of sort you into other stuff there might be more surgeries and it's just like a normal average everyday part of life Yeah. And you don't get to see your parents again until you turn 16 and go over to being pretty. Right. So there's also the specials. The specials are like this unknowable. They're like a government force, but they're like consideration or special consensus or special circumstances, which is like a like at the FBI, I guess, or the CIA. Yeah.
00:14:23
Speaker
But they are not just the department, but they get like special surgeries. Yeah. To be specials. Yes. Yes. And they're oh like a lot of the people don't really know what they look like. they They're like talked about and they never really see them. They're like knows. It's a rumor.
00:14:46
Speaker
Yeah, but it's different in the movie because in the movie they see them all the time. Like they're the ones like patrolling, like they see them like there's this head person called Dr. Cable and you see them um when they're talking to all the new pretties and stuff like that. So that's a little bit different in the movie. But there is like a government force called Special Circumstance. Then we have the Smokies.
00:15:16
Speaker
Which is a right surprise. They live in the smokes. No one could have predicted that one. shocker It is a rebel group, basically, that lives outside of this city.
Comparing Book & Movie Portrayals
00:15:33
Speaker
And they don't get the surgeries. They ran away. Yeah, they enjoy what they look like, and they are going against Special circumstance and special circumstances kind of like looking out for them and trying to find the head person of the smokes Okay, and then also we there's a lot of references to rusty's which is people like us So it's from the old society asked basically us today that were like dependent on oil and
00:16:11
Speaker
Everything fell apart and oil fields exploded. And they're called rusty's is like the rusty ruins, which is basically cities that have fallen apart from the old society. It kind of like whenever they talk about going to the rusty ruins. And if you've seen divergent, it kind of reminds me of that whenever they all in the factions inside of the city and when they go outside the city, it kind of reminds me of that same exact vibe. So basically, that's what's going on. That's kind of like the breakdown of the different
00:16:43
Speaker
parts of the cities and parts of the world. And then they do talk about that this is their area, but there are other cities, other pretty cities yeah around the continent, around the world, I guess, I don't know, but at least the continent. And they talk about other pretty cities out there, but nobody really goes to them because each one is kind of self-sustaining. Yes, yeah.
00:17:12
Speaker
And basically, like. From my understanding, it's like pretties don't really know how to do anything when something goes wrong. Right. And that's the purpose of special circumstances is like these people that work for special circumstances are supposed to fix anything that goes wrong because the pretties can't like help themselves if something goes badly. Basically.
00:17:43
Speaker
OK, they're worthless. Yeah, that's basically what it is. They can't think for themselves. Yeah, but they're pretty. Yeah, exactly. So that is our world breakdown. So we're going to get right into how the book begins, which is starring Tally Youngblood.
00:18:04
Speaker
but I couldn't even I couldn't even say that with a straight face. I really couldn't. The last name kills me. So Talia Youngblood is an ugly and she is 15 years old played by Joey King. We all have to pretend that she's 15 and we all have to pretend that she's ugly. Okay. Can I just say from the from the get go?
00:18:26
Speaker
if the uglies and I mean like I understand that in the book the uglies are supposed to be average people that even if you're really kind of technically pretty by our today's standards you would still be an ugly because the yeah the idea of being pretty is not just being beautiful it's perfection it's perfect symmetry it's The perfect eye shape it's the perfect cheekbone, you know height and jawline and the perfect height and the perfect weight and the perfect skin and the perfect hair color for your skin tone and like And so they they say in the book a lot that like most of the pretties tend to all look alike Because they're going for that average perfection that that yeah, and so in the movie legitimately The uglies and the pretties
00:19:15
Speaker
were like, if I had to rate them on a like one to 10, you know, gorgeous scale, they were all within the same, like, the uglies were probably like sixes and sevens and the pretties were probably like sevens and eights. But I didn't see, but maybe one person that was a solid 10 amongst all the pretties, if we were comparing them to everyone else in the movie, because they all kind of blended together. And yeah the difference between the uglies and the pretties was contacts and makeup and hairspray.
00:19:43
Speaker
yeah That was the difference. like i In weird cheekbones. Yeah, in weird cheekbones. But if you're going to do this in a movie, those pretties better be so effing perfect. so like Flawless every time. And those uglies better look ugly. Because legit, I'm watching this going, how are the pretties not like perfect Greek goddess model pretty?
00:20:12
Speaker
you know Because I'm not saying they were ugly. They were beautiful people, but not pretties in the way that I expected based on what the book was saying. I think I I think that the movie did it somewhat OK, like representing that. Because the way that they do it, my interpretation of it is that a pretty is like whatever you're not.
00:20:39
Speaker
Even if it's like whatever perfection is, it's whatever that you are currently not in your body because like whatever you currently are, you're going to think is not perfect.
00:20:54
Speaker
Right, but like in the book, it's not about what you thought was perfect, because they talk about it in the beginning when Tally's making like her idea of what she thinks her perfect face would be, yeah and she's got all these different options and and stuff that she's looking at.
00:21:11
Speaker
And they even say that like it doesn't matter what you want they're gonna do what they think is the best thing anyway true true so it's not about what you think it's pretty it's literally there their idea of their scientific my all you know biology says that we like you know that humans like bigger eyes and you know but not too big biology says they like the high cheekbones but not too high you know biology says that your your face needs to be you know perfectly symmetric or you know.
00:21:38
Speaker
And your eyes need to be so far apart and your nose needs to be just right. And so they weren't going based on what you thought about your body. It was about what science said was perfect. You at least got to choose your eye color. yeah But even that was only in the movie in the book. They were like, they're going to do whatever they want to do.
00:21:56
Speaker
Yeah. I think in the movie, too, like everyone looked so strange, like especially the guy who plays Paris, who I forget what his name is. He looked wild. He like gave me so much ick. Yeah. And he was like a plastic Like Ken doll like and not in a good way not and that's why when I say that the prayers were by way Yeah, and so when I say the pretties weren't pretty that's kind of what I'm talking about like they did not They were supposed to be like according to the book. It's supposed to make you they're supposed to become the the ideal perfect pretty
00:22:35
Speaker
And then once that happens, people can't help but be nice to you. People can't help but look to you for comfort because they they they trust your face shape. They trust you know whatever. And so like when I was looking at these pretties in the movie, they all gave me the ick. They all creeped me out. And that was like the opposite of what the idea of becoming a pretty was in the book. You know what I mean? Yeah.
00:23:03
Speaker
Yeah, totally. And so how the like elves from Lord of the Rings are like this like ideal, beautiful, tall thing. You know what I mean? Like that kind of ethereal beauty versus this like plastic robots. Yeah. Like that's what I was getting from this movie. Then they all had that like glassy skin thing going on, which don't get me wrong. It's a really cool look. And I've seen it pulled off and look really neat on some people, but not everyone, you know, it was creepy. Yeah.
00:23:33
Speaker
and So the beginning of this book, we're introduced to Tally and her and she wants to see her best friend, Paris, which in the book. He has turned pretty is already in new town and she still has three months to turn pretty and she kind of wants to go see him real quick because she misses him because she's used to spending every single day with him in the movie. This is a little different because we kind of get like some backstory.
00:24:00
Speaker
between Paris and Tally, ah where we see their friendship before he goes over and turns pretty. And so I thought that was actually pretty cool because I was like, I'm not understanding this connection, like why she's so desperate to see this guy. But yeah, whatever. And then so she goes over there to New Pretty. She's like used to sneaking over to New Pretty Town. And, you know, uglies are not supposed to go over there. They've forbidden to go over to New Pretty Town.
00:24:31
Speaker
I remember being an ugly bee around the pretty people. I know. They might and so rub their ugly off on someone. Yeah. They're like and they're all like so disturbed by seeing it. They're like, oh my god. like They're like gasping. I can't believe it.
00:24:46
Speaker
So she's like wearing a mask and then she finally confronts him and sees him and he's like a total asshole to her when she sees him again like she's like being pretty has like changed him which is like kind of like an indication later like that yeah even though like you're changing your image like it's kind of changing his personality It's not the same Paris that she knew growing up. Like they have always been best friends. Like they had like a scar together and now his scar is gone. And so like, she's really sad when she leaves. But she's already like right away, she starts making excuses for
Character Dynamics & Rebellion
00:25:21
Speaker
him. Yeah. You know, she's like, well, I probably startled him. He's not used to ugly faces anymore.
00:25:28
Speaker
Yeah. You know, like, okay. Like, that just means he's an asshole, honey. Yeah. And we talked about this already, but he, Lily, looks in the movie freaking terrifying. Mm-hmm. Literally like a Halloween costume, and I was honestly terrified. It was like borderline, like, sparkling like Edward. Like, I was like, what are you doing? Yeah.
00:25:52
Speaker
And with the hair slicked back, yes I was like, what is with the slicked back hair? He's like a total jerk. He's like, well, we can be friends again when once you turn pretty, like in two months and then we could talk again. ah Like you need to go bungee jump off this off the building without your without the jacket. Yeah. So she basically like in.
00:26:18
Speaker
This new pretty town, they basically have like um these ah interface rings or something like something triggers the building that she's in. They're like, oh, no, ugly is here. Like she needs to leave. And they're like all these like people come out and make tell her that she needs to leave. And they're like running out to her and she really has to grab a jacket that allows her to like bungee jump off the freaking side of the building.
00:26:46
Speaker
i i don't understand moving on i was gonna pick apart the science of this book at first and then i was just like there's no point there's no point no there's absolutely no point but during this escape from new pretty town she meets uh a new friend named shay and shay is kind of like this Freethinker to tally like tally is very excited to become pretty in two months. like She is like Constantly picking out her face whenever she's gonna turn pretty and in the movie She actually like I thought this was like really like crazy and like sad is when you like go to bed at night You have like your screen saver as like it's like a countdown to when I get to turn pretty and like what your face is gonna be like or what you hope it's gonna look like and
00:27:41
Speaker
once you turn pretty and like Tally really wants to turn pretty and she's super excited so she meets this girl Shay who was also like sneaking around is very similar to her where Tali used to sneak around with Paris all the time, so now she kind of has this new friend who will do it with her. But she is like, like I said, a bit of a free thinker. She has many philosophies about being ugly, how it's not so bad being ugly, how staying like she kind of wants to stay ugly. Like she doesn't have any thoughts about changing to be pretty, like she doesn't have any ideas of what she'll look like when she's pretty, which is like Tali's like, wow, like that's really weird. A foreign concept to her that you wouldn't dream about being pretty.
00:28:22
Speaker
u And they soon realize that they have the same birthday and they kind of become like besties. And during this whole time while they're like waiting for their birthday to happen, which, you know, once they turn 16 is when they turn pretty. They're, you know, hanging out and Shay's teaching her how to ride a hoverboard. And I really need to talk about this in the movie because this is just embarrassing.
00:28:53
Speaker
This was just absolutely embarrassing. The whole scenes of them hoverboarding. I mean, I don't know how, like, I don't know what the budget hit is here. I don't know what the budget is, not Netflix for the uglies. But like, I feel like it could have been better than this. I really do.
00:29:14
Speaker
I really do like to fake crazy. Yeah. i I have a lot of thoughts on the hoverboards, but yeah we've already said they suck. So there was a lot of it and it was dumb. Yeah. Also, I always think it's funny like reading a dystopian novel from like early 2000s and what like the way that they write a hoverboard and The only way that it works is that it has to connect to metal. right like yeah that They're saying that the majority of the hover technology in this world is magnetic. right it's yes It's based on magnetic fields. and so Without some sort of magnetic metal, then the hoverboard won't work. and they's in Within the city, there's a grid.
00:30:05
Speaker
they they've They've placed a grid under the ground, so there's metal wherever you go. You don't have to be on a road or in a lane or anything. You can just go anywhere. Yeah. But outside the city, not so much. Yeah. So I think it's interesting also that in order for it to stay on the hoverboard, you have to wear a belly button ring to contain your balance on the hoverboard. I think So you were the one who didn't want to talk about the science, but okay. Okay. No, I don't want to talk about science. it's just about like It's just about the core. It's just about yeah yeah so that's word knowing where the core is going. Yeah. that's all
00:30:48
Speaker
<unk>s Like I was just thinking, yeah, OK, moving on, because honestly, the science is so unnecessary, but I was the science is unnecessary and it's all wrong. So just whatever make believe idea in your head you want to think of, then that they put the belly button ring in there because they can control it by clenching their guts. I don't know. It could have been whatever dream you want to dream up. That's how it works. I just couldn't get over it because I was thinking about how like we have those like I don't know what they're called.
00:31:16
Speaker
But aren't they called like some type of hoverboard? They're not an actual like hoverboard, but like the kind that's like that you use to like lean. Yeah. roll Roll around. I was like. We're kind of like you would use that same concept to move around on a hoverboard. Yes and no, because the ones that we have have that like ball in the middle. And so there is that there's a center point.
00:31:40
Speaker
Yeah, so it it can read from that center point where you're leaning where you're not leaning like where I guess the hoverboard you couldn't necessarily tell that because it's all about yeah, okay and whether or not you had a passenger or whatever so Sorry, getting into the hoverboard. I mean, there's so much damn hoverboarding in here. There's so much know like the hoverboarding in here is insane. Just don't forget the crash bracelets.
00:32:06
Speaker
Yeah. And there's also crash bracelets to where if you fall off the hoverboard or fall anywhere, it's going to allow you to flow on the ground. It'll dislocate your arms while it's touching you. In the movie, like it like she falls off and she like Mission Impossibles over the ground, like flat out. But in the book, it's like, it catches you, like yanks you up by your wrists where you're, where the bracelets are. And so you're just like hanging in midair with your arms up over your head. You don't have crash bracelets like on your ankles and both like your. Right. And so like, like you got to have some serious core muscles to hold your whole body up by your wrists like that. Like a full, full body plank.
00:32:53
Speaker
Yeah, right I saw that part and in the movie and I went, yeah, we're just not even going to go into the science on this one because I can't. wait okay I mean, I had this like vision of it being like almost kind of like cyberpunk a little bit, like kind of.
Plot Elements & Tension Building
00:33:13
Speaker
Maybe, yeah. Yeah, especially like in the beginning when it was first described whenever she's like looking at New Pretty Town and everything.
00:33:20
Speaker
But then it just like, I don't know, it just got really weird. And the movie made it even more weird. Sure did. Yeah. So moving on past the science. Forget the science. Forget the science. Forget the science. What science? So Shay and Tally kind of develop a very close friendship.
00:33:48
Speaker
and you know Shay has a very like rebellious nature and Tali's kind of a bit like following the rules but then she kind of follows along with Shay and Shay convinces Tali to go into like restricted areas with her including hoverboarding into what's known as the quote rusty ruins. Right. when now ah we described as like being like what is almost like the ruins of the city you're living in right now. Yeah, a regular city like a city with, you know, tall buildings. Yeah. Roads. Yeah. Maybe some train tracks, you know, there's like a small broken down roller coaster. Yeah. And Shea talks about this person named David a lot and David. OK, so Shea
00:34:39
Speaker
And what's-her-face, Tally, end up being tight a lot, though, because, like, they're the last of their friend groups. Like, each one had their own friend group. yep And all of Tally's friend group has already gone to be pretties, and she's the last one. And so all of her friends are gone. And kind of same thing with Shay. All of her friends are gone. And so now they're stuck. So now Tally and her friends used to run off and spy on the new pretties over in New Pretty Town, New Pretty City, wherever the hell it's called. And Shay and her friends used to run off to the rusty ruins and get in trouble. And so now that was kind of like... We already did the new pretty town thing. Let's go on over to the rusty ruins. And she's like, check out all this cool shit. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not going to lie. I was the kind of girl who would have been like, you want to get in trouble? This is not the kind of trouble I'm into. I'm going to be back in the dorm. Like, I don't know. I'm like, no, I'm sorry about you. Like, yeah, I'm gonna be pretty in two months. I mean, I have the same birthday. So right. Yeah.
00:35:51
Speaker
Yeah. And she says talking about this person named David. And I don't this whole thing of like them like constantly going to the Rusty Ruins is not really represented in the movie at all. And she doesn't really talk a ton about David in the movie. She just finally has this moment the night before they're supposed to turn pretty.
00:36:14
Speaker
It's the night before their birthday, and she, Shay, takes Tali to the Rusty Ruins, shows her this place, and tells her everything about this man named David. and like you're In the movie, it's their first time ever, and she just dumps this all on her. Yeah.
00:36:31
Speaker
And in the book, this is kind of like slowly built up. She's like keeps talking about this person, David, David. She's constantly silly talking about how she's been to the ruins a few times at this point because they like to hoverboard out there. Yeah, she's talking about how she doesn't really like the pretties that she kind of wants to stay ugly. And we kind of always has been talking about this. And then but in the movie, it's kind of skips all that and goes straight to the night before they're supposed to turn It happens real fast and it comes it feels like it kind of comes out of nowhere. Like you're like, wait, what? What's happening? like If I hadn't read the book, I probably not would have not caught on to that right away. Yeah. So they are at the rusty ruins and she's like, I'm not going to go. Shay says I'm not going to go turn pretty tomorrow. I'm actually going to go escape.
00:37:24
Speaker
and meet up with David and I'm going to go to the smokes because David is actually known as like this head person that takes you to the smokes. He's like part of the smokies. So and Tali's like, what the heck? I'm not doing that. That's crazy talk. Like I'm not doing going anywhere near that. And she's like very shocked by this because this is like. Unheard of to go, not go turn pretty when you turn 16.
00:37:52
Speaker
And so they have like what's going to happen to your eyes if your eyes are too far apart and don't go through the surgery, then you're just going to grow up and get old with your eyes far apart. youre you're good Why would you do that ugly? How could you turn into a crumbly? Yeah. Yeah. So basically, Shay tries to convince her and then leaves her like a note that's made into like a riddle.
00:38:21
Speaker
of how to get to the smokes, which honestly confused me because I thought she didn't know how to get there. Right. Without David. Right. So I was like, OK. Anyway, oh clearly, David told her how to get there. Yeah. Yeah. And yet so he had to lead her there. Like, yeah, I don't I don't understand that, but all right. Yeah.
00:38:44
Speaker
So she leaves her like a note, be like, if you change your mind, here's this little note that is in a riddle in case somebody like sees it. Only you'll know how to get there. It sounds like what the heck. And then she takes it home with her and she's like, well, I'm definitely still getting this operation.
00:39:00
Speaker
I'm not following Shay and this random stranger into like the middle of nowhere. Out to the unknown. It's the unknown. No, thank you. That's going to be not for me because I'm going to go turn pretty. So next day is today. It's how is operation. And she is sitting in the waiting room waiting for her operation, which is also in the movie. She's sitting there. Everyone's getting called and then someone from the agenda.
00:39:28
Speaker
Special circumstances comes like psych you ain't getting cut today like you're coming with me Also like okay sidetracking real quick, I think this is really crazy how and well To prepare for their operation to turn pretty they're like scanned several times Over and over and over for their operation. Yeah I think that's like really disturbing. Anyways, moving on. So she got a side note. So she gets a special circumstance and like it like I said, in the book, these people are like people don't really talk about like the uglies and the pretties don't talk about these people and they've never really seen them. But a lot of them people don't even believe they exist. Yeah. In the movie, these people are like patrolling, walking around,
00:40:22
Speaker
Yeah, they're like, you know, like it's like an average everyday site yeah is to see them just out and about. Yeah. And like, like I said, in their little Tron suit. Yeah. There is a head person named Dr. Cable, who at the very beginning of the movie, you literally see like, like, uh, like a hologram or whatever of her talking and speaking to all the new pretties, like kind of like being like, congratulations, you're becoming a pretty, you know,
00:40:53
Speaker
And so they all know who this person looks like, but in the book, like they, she has no idea who this Dr. Cable is. So special circumstances brings, um, tally in to their headquarters basically. And she meets Dr. Cable and Dr. Cable's like, we got a problem. We're looking for Shay and Shay has disappeared.
00:41:21
Speaker
And we know Shae's disappeared and we know that she's been around you and hanging out with you. And we want to know if you know anything. Antaly's like, well, I want to protect my friend. I don't want to say anything. And Dr. Cable's like, well, you're not going to turn pretty. We're going to let you turn pretty unless you tell us or whatever information that you have. So this is like a whole event. She's like kind of having like this. Mental like going back and forth of what she wants to do.
00:41:48
Speaker
whether she wants to tell them where she is. And she takes days in the book. Yeah, she takes like several days and everyone is like, is she has to go back to her dorm. Yeah. She has to go back to her dorm and all the people are like, oh, my God, she's still ugly after she turned 16. Right. And she's embarrassed to go back to the dorm. She's like, don't send me back to the dorm. Yeah. They're like all like shook that she's still ugly after turning 16.
00:42:15
Speaker
Yeah. And her parents come, her parents freaking suck. This is like the first time that we ever see the parents. Don't you want to be pretty? You should help. They're really just helping Shae. Don't you want to help Shae? Yeah. You know, tell them what you know. Yeah. And then she does have like a visit from her friend, Paris, who like literally says, well, you made a promise to me that you were going to turn pretty and that we were going to like be together and hang out and have fun. And, you know,
00:42:43
Speaker
So forget that girl. Do what you gotta do. Yeah. Yeah. Do what you gotta do and get pretty. Yeah. So then she makes a decision to go back and which this is all also in the movie as well. She makes a decision. She goes back to Dr. Cable and she says- In the movie, it's only like that night. Yeah. It's only one night. One night. In the book, it's like four days. Oh yeah. And in the movie, the parents are, her parents aren't in the movie.
00:43:09
Speaker
No, her parents aren't in the movie at all. It's just Paris. Yeah. So just Paris visits in the movie. But so she goes back to Dr. Cable and she's like, all right, I'll tell you what I know. And so Dr. Cable's like, well, you're actually I need you to go find Shay. And yeah, because we don't understand your note. Yeah, I don't understand. She's like tells her about this, like the riddle note that she has of the location. And she's like, well, actually, I need you to go find her and tell me more information. But so there's a little bit of a difference here between the book and the movie in the book.
00:43:50
Speaker
She makes like a deal like Dr. Cable makes a deal with Tally and says that like art not makes a deal. It's not really a deal. It's more like you're going to do this or else this is say it's an ultimatum. Yeah. um Yeah. It's an ultimatum, but says that you're not we're not going to let you turn pretty unless you go to the smokes.
00:44:16
Speaker
with like a locket that's going to tell us your location and then once you go into the smokes you need to activate it so we can find that location. Once we get that location then you can turn pretty. That's in the book. In the movie It says Dr. Cable makes a deal with her where she's like, you can turn pretty now. But she says that the smokes have the a really bad weapon that is threatening our city and threatening Shae's life or something like that. And you could either turn pretty now and not do anything about it or you can go save Shae and tell us about this. Like, go get information about this weapon.
00:45:01
Speaker
and activate the locket so then we can find your location once you have that information and bring Shay back. you She's like, you could be a hero or you could just turn pretty now or something like that. Pretty much. Which I thought was like kind of dumb. It was dumb. It was dumb. But I think it made more sense than the book, because I was like, in the book, why if you really don't care that much and you don't even know these people, why wasn't she immediately when she got to the smokes? Why did she not immediately activate her necklace?
00:45:41
Speaker
I think it was that the the journey there who in the book. Like she at one point is on her way there and she stops and she's like, this is like, this is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. And it's just nature, yeah you know? And she instantly kind of starts to feel like this is maybe nature isn't quite as bad as I thought it was, you know? And then that when she sees Shay right off the bat, she's like,
00:46:11
Speaker
You know, Shae's really happy. Like, she doesn't seem to be in danger. She's really happy. And these people are being really kind. So maybe there isn't as much danger here as I thought there was. And of course, they weren't like when they rendezvous, they weren't at the smokes yet. So she couldn't activate it instantly. She had to wait until they get all the way to the smokes. And just that journey from the rendezvous point to the smokes,
00:46:36
Speaker
She had struck up conversations with everybody and kind of instantly started to be like, wait a minute. This doesn't feel bad. You know, like she expected. That's all I can figure. That's kind of how I took it in the book. Yeah. But even I was like, if your job is to activate the thing, why are you waiting so long? Activate it. like Even I went through that like, come on, girl, like do the thing.
00:46:59
Speaker
I think the ultimatum in the movie made it to where she would have more time there to understand what was going on and have connections with people to make her not want to activate it. Right. I think that mean job was to get more information. And yeah so she had to take her time to get the information. And that did make way more sense.
00:47:18
Speaker
and But also, I don't think there was enough motivation to actually make her want to like go through all these travels and be a hero though. Absolutely. Like she wasn't giving me hero energy. No, no. She really wasn't. No, at no point. That was her main goal in life. Was to follow the status quo and to carry on with life like everyone else around her did.
00:47:40
Speaker
Exactly. So that's not hero energy. No. was like And there's nothing wrong with that. You don't have to be a hero. I am not a hero. So I get it. But it just kind of for the main character of the book who's supposed to be the hero. Yeah. It wasn't there. Yeah. So Tali goes on this long journey with this note of riddles to go find the smoke. If you are the head of special circumstances and you couldn't figure out that riddle poem thing.
00:48:10
Speaker
Then I, we need to look closer at the application and interview process for that job. You were the wrong choice. Need to do another brain scan.
00:48:22
Speaker
yeah I'm over here like. You know, with the first line was what, like, follow the coaster just past the gap. And it was like, well, that one's obvious. So you find a a flat, straight track and it was just like, that's obvious. Like, you know, how how you how you missed that as as the the head of special circumstances. Yep.
00:48:46
Speaker
Like you're the head of the the the CIA black ops team for your little city and you couldn't figure out a riddle written by a 15 year old. The head of FBI, female body inspector.
00:49:03
Speaker
Oh my God. ah But for real, like that I was like, man, the intelligence in your intelligence agency is lacking. Yeah. ah So she goes through this entire journey. I won't explain the entire journey because it's just takes days and she finally gets to the smoke eventually. At one point, she's like asleep during her travels and wakes up to smoke and everything on fire. Wait, I do want to bring up. Yeah. So on that day on her journey, she's like in these white flowers that are everywhere. These what we find out are the tiger or kids or whatever. And
00:49:41
Speaker
That's like the last day of her journey before she gets to like the rendezvous point or whatever. And like suddenly they're all on fire around her. And it's like a, it's a, this fire's been set. And in the movie, that part doesn't quite happen. But more importantly, in the book, the fire's being set by pretties from another city.
00:50:06
Speaker
Mm-hmm called Rangers called Rangers and they are purposely burning this if like their city those Rangers these pretties are purposely burning these flowers because they're an invasive species that's taking over right and in the movie that species they they talk about it in the propaganda of of the The pretty city or whatever the even in ugly villain stuff, but like that town Area or whatever it is that municipality talks about their propaganda is all about these flowers are then fueling Their city and these you know, that's the fuel then the new renewable fuel source is these flowers And in the movie, it's the uglies that are burning these flowers. Mm-hmm and The pretties are trying to stop the uglies from burning the flowers So
00:51:05
Speaker
That really messed me up because I'm like, is this something from it later on in the series from the other books maybe that they're bringing forward in this new movie? Yeah, I don't know. But then I was like, no, because then the pretties from the other city wouldn't be doing it. in Yeah. So that really confused me. Yeah, because in the movie at that point, whenever she is laying in the flowers, David is working amongst the people that are burning these flowers.
00:51:32
Speaker
Right. And helps her and brings in, you know. Yeah. that kind of tracker Yeah, they have a deal where like those pretties from that city help bring the any uglies that they find running off to the rendezvous point. Yeah. In the book. In the book. Right. yeah And so that's like.
00:51:53
Speaker
David's got like a deal with them. So like obviously the Smokies and the the pretties from this other city Are not enemies. It's very specifically whatever city Tally comes from that's the real problem here. Yeah so at this point ah So David is like scanning her for a tracker, finds one on her hoverboard and does not notice that there is a tracker on her necklace. And so also we notice and she is with them and that in the book, Shane David seem like romantically right together. This is not in the movie.
00:52:40
Speaker
at least from my interpretation, it didn't feel like they were romantically together. Right. Yeah. No, in the movie, I didn't really notice that at all. Yeah. So but in the book, they definitely were like a thing or like Shay was very much into David in the book.
00:52:56
Speaker
So David, because due to like Shae being like an alibi, basically of Tally, David brings Tally in to the smokes and Tally, you know, meets all these people, you know, within the smokes is like a ton of people. He meets the boss.
00:53:15
Speaker
who like where she is assigned a job. And she sees the boss for the first time ever and is like freaked out by the boss's age and I guess decrepitude.
00:53:29
Speaker
and says to to Shay, like, oh my God. And she's like, I know he's so old, right? I think he's like 40. I died. I was so mad. I passed away and they came back to life. I was actually like, I was like, okay, okay, Scott Westerfeld. I'm done with you, buddy. You're rude. So rude.
00:53:52
Speaker
I was like so mad. Who do you think you are? 40 is not a crumbly, you asshole.
Narrative Twists & Character Motivations
00:54:00
Speaker
Like, I was, I had to put the book down. Yeah. And then like she, uh, the boss is like showing, or I don't know if the boss shows her or Shay shows her, they're like showing all these like magazines. It's just like, oh my God, it's a magazine of like all these uglies.
00:54:18
Speaker
Yeah. And it's just like regular people because it's like from the rusty like era or whatever. And I will say that the the like description of some of these magazines and images took me right back to the 90s. Like it was like a secret catalog or it's like a 17 magazine. i i can Because like at one point she's like she was wearing some sort of lacy see through dress and I was like, oh, it's a lingerie catalog. Like, yeah. Yep.
00:54:47
Speaker
and it it really like And then she said, like the fat ones are mostly comedians, or the fatties are comedians. I was like like, oh my God, make it stop. I was like, Scott Westerfeld, I'm done. You need to go back to bed, take a nap, have a snack. I don't know who hurt you, but quit this. yeah Your mother should have taught you better, sir.
00:55:12
Speaker
Yeah. And so everyone in the smokes, she notices everyone in the smokes is ugly, but... And boy does she notice. Yeah, she just constantly is talking about everyone's just so freaking ugly. She's like, he's got wide set eyes, his ears stick out. yeah He's like, okay, relax. maybe maybe Maybe if he had the surgery, he wouldn't be so short. It's like, damn, girl. And then we're watching the movie and everyone's f freaking gorgeous. Right? I'm like, shut up. They're all tall. They're all tall.
00:55:46
Speaker
Cry is so fine. Oh my god. He's still freaking fine. Walking in here and he's supposed to be ugly. Get out of my face. No, they're all tall. Get the hell out of my face. They have perfect skin. They're all like. Don't speak to me. I need to, like, if you're going to be uglies, I need you to have, like, scars and, like, I don't know, like, horrible acne or something. Anything. Just, like, if, like,
00:56:11
Speaker
And with the with the amount of studio makeup they could have done to make these people less beautiful, like if the whole idea was to be a whole community of uglies, you failed.
00:56:25
Speaker
You just failed because like I would have run into that community real fast. but so so Are those the uglies? I'm coming. Call me ugly. like you Sign me up. Something to also note is that in the book, Paris is never mentioned again.
00:56:42
Speaker
Really not. Never brought up in the in the book. In the movie, we get like a little flash to him in special circumstances where he is talking to Dr. Cable about Tally. And he he's like, I convinced her to go. And she's like, OK, well, we need to. Do you want us to like change something more about you?
00:57:09
Speaker
Or like, no, he's, he's like, I'm feeling a kind of way about that. Yeah. Like he's talking about doing additional surgery and we don't know details about that yet, but we get like a little special thing we can do for people just like you. Yeah. as i sign me up like I have thoughts on this, but I'm going to hold on to them. Cause I can't tease this Lindsay. There's more information that we need to discuss before I can. yeah yeah Okay. So.
00:57:40
Speaker
Well, I got to think, where are we? OK, yeah, OK. So in the movie, because we we find out that David and his like whole group is kind of doing what the Rangers are doing in them in the book. So they have like this weird little rescue scene where this does not happen in the book whatsoever and where special circumstances somehow makes it near the smokes.
00:58:05
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And David is so confused. He's like, I can't I don't understand how they're here Maybe because you took a tracker off the hoverboard and threw it in the field. I don't know maybe Possibly could have been could but it like destroy it because in the book he talks about how he took the tracker off the hoverboard and like so put it on a migratory bird and Yeah, like send it away. So he's like so like baffled that they're here. And I'm like, maybe because you didn't destroy that tracker. I mean, just the thought. I don't know. oh But they have like this whole rescue scene. I don't know. I just cannot see this tally girl being this hero jumping out of a helicopter, which cracks me up to like, we have this rusty the ah machine from the old rusty times. And it's like just like a helicopter like sitting over in the field.
00:58:53
Speaker
And they figured out how to use it and fix it and like oh yeah good for you you teenage uh uglies oh yeah how do you oh yeah don't forget everyone there's no parents here because it's a YA dystopian novel no parents who are all the parents are useless they don't do anything these ugly teenagers somehow are also helicopter mechanics Not the ugly teenagers.
00:59:20
Speaker
Okay, so throughout the entire story, which is in the book and maybe she's just continuously facing this dilemma where she is like helping the Smokies, you know, doing like their daily jobs and everything. And she's finding these connections with these people. And she's facing this daily dilemma of whether she should activate This necklace, whether so she should tell someone the truth. Yeah. Yeah. Whether she should tell the truth and see that there are a lot of lives at stake. And she soon meets David's parent or like finds out about David's parents, not meets him yet. Right. She finds out about them, that he has parents that live there, knows a little more information about them. He reveals that they used to be pretty.
01:00:10
Speaker
And we were like, what the heck does that mean? And that they're doctors. we Like she's becoming friends with a lot of people. She's becoming kind of closer to Shay a little bit. Shay is like kind of getting a little suspicious of her because she's like has like a necklace and she thinks that like there's like a romantic love interest back where she's from that.
01:00:33
Speaker
ah taal She thinks that Tally told somebody from um Uglyville or whatever that about the smokes and that to bring them or send them directions on how to get there. Like as a like as a love interest, not as a like you told on us, not as a tattle. Yeah. and Also, if you're wearing a tracker necklace, why are you always just wearing it out for everybody to see? Wouldn't you just tuck that in your shirt? Yeah.
01:01:01
Speaker
i yeah in That really bothered me through the book and the movie. I'm like, girl, you're supposed to just like, you're not supposed to just wear it out there for everyone. Like, look at my beautiful necklace. who Don't look too close though. What? Just tuck that thing in.
01:01:20
Speaker
Yeah, so kroy is also which is kroy is like another person that's there it becomes like very suspicious of tally like thinks she's like the hottie possibly yeah yeah the hottie ugly kroy is like kind of sus of tally thinks that she's possibly a spy which she is surprised And Shay is also noticing David's flirting with Tally a lot. Even David um gifted Tally some gloves. Okay, so, you know, I'm the romance reader. All right. I love me a good romance. I love yeah a little sprinkle sprinkle.
01:01:56
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. In my young adult, you know, a little teenage flirtation, you know, it, you know, gives me a little butterfly sometimes. This was stupid. Mm-hmm. I did not understand why. I was like, why do you like her? You don't know her. No, I'm with you on that one. He literally- She's been here for three days. Yeah, I was like, you know nothing about her. Yeah, no.
01:02:20
Speaker
He just liked her because she took this trip to the smokes alone. And he was like so like shocked by that. Nobody's ever done that before. So I'm going to drop Shay who apparently like they've had this connection or unless Shay like, I don't know, like made this all up in her head or something. I don't think night they were holding hands. Yeah. Like in the book. So Shay and what's his face? David were holding hands in the book.
01:02:50
Speaker
So there was a something because you wouldn't just hold hands with just anybody. Obviously, there's something true. And, you know, like I said, this is not really in the movie like there's not really a flirt. They're just like very Shay and David are just very close friends. Like there is a point where in the book and in the movie, you know, David gives her a pair of like gloves that he had handmade.
01:03:12
Speaker
and gifting something in the spokes is like extremely like important like that's like very like gifting anything is like a goal to like other people that means have like a bartering system yeah like it means you like really care about them well and so across things is so difficult that yeah you are willing to give or gift something it's no It means a lot of consideration. you Yeah. And so Shay sees that in the book and she gets pissed off because she's like she gets really jealous about that in the movie that like represents because Tally's been kind of like, I kind of want to go back home to pretty town. And she's also been like putting an inklings of being like, is there a weapon around here?
01:03:59
Speaker
Right. Randomly, like she's kind of been like, um, you sellers and trying to look around corners and yeah she's also kind of like telling she like, she's like, we probably she like. go back like why are you here like should we be going back like she's kind of been indicating that she kind of wants to go back to the city and Shay kind of gets upset she's like if you're accepting gifts you need to make a decision whether you're going to stay here or go back and the you know the smokes are very about like you need to make where no one's going to force you to stay here for you to do anything we want you to make your own decision. Shay obviously loves being there and
01:04:35
Speaker
So when she sees Tally accepting gifts from people that she cares very much about, not even in the romantic way, just in the familial, I've got a community here kind of way. Yeah. And and here's Tally potentially taking advantage of that and not like in her naivety is taking advantage of that. And, yeah you know, Shay's like, hey, this is a big deal. You don't need to be taking things from these people if you're not going to stick around. Yeah.
01:05:04
Speaker
So yeah, it was more of a protective thing on Shay's part. But I think it's really important in the book and in the movie, Shay really does love this community. This is where she wants to be. No matter what Tali says, Shay has chosen to be there for a purpose. It's not a small thing to her. It's not fake to her. It's very real. It's a big deal and it's important to her. So it was a really big decision.
01:05:33
Speaker
And Tali just seems to be kind of crapping on it, you know. So at this point in both like the book and the movie, Tali goes to meet David's parents. And, you know, she's very like shocked, meaning his parents, because David's parents actually are probably like, yeah, they're probably and they look like him.
01:05:56
Speaker
like genetics are like crazy to her because you know whenever you reach 16 you change everything about your appearance and you're not going to look like your parents. So that's like very crazy to her. And then there David's parents, like I said, are doctors and they reveal something crazy about turning pretty is that when you turn pretty, it not only changes your appearance, but it changes how you think because lesions are put onto your brain whenever you turn
01:06:31
Speaker
Pretty Which I think is so freakin predictable in this book. Yeah i was like oh that like reveal Like what a twist you know ah Yeah, and they kind of like reveal that they were whenever they were in, you know, in the city, they were trying to work on a cure. And they were doing a lot of research and Dr. Cable made it stop. And then they realized that special circumstances wanted them to have these lesions on their brain because they wanted to control how they thought.
01:07:10
Speaker
And it's like 99% of the population. They did notice that some people didn't have it, but the people who didn't have it were middle pretties that had been put in specific jobs. yeah So they knew it was reversible somehow. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Surprise, surprise, the specials had that removed. Mm-hmm. Just saying. Surprise, surprise.
01:07:42
Speaker
Wait, so Lindsay, what were you going to say earlier? So with Paris, and his he was having strong feelings about seeing Tally again, and Dr. Cable offers this special surgery.
01:08:02
Speaker
so I think it's Mattie and As, those are David's parents. They explain that the lesions change your personality and they don't have the lesions because they were doctors, but they spent most of their lives thinking about and working toward curing these lesions that that they've thought about these lesions most of their lives and that if they turn special, there's they might remember the lesions.
01:08:32
Speaker
Right. So I think something that the movie does really well and ah whatever, spoiler, whatever. No, it's worth it. I think I know where you're going. Paris, even after becoming special, still has feelings for Tally. Right. And you can see it in in the Smokies or in and the Smokes when he kind of like stops for a second and is like, oh wait, it's you. But it's almost like he has to see her. He doesn't remember it without a trigger. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I really think the movie portrayed that much better than the book did. Because the the book was just like, oh, the lesions. We thought about them. Now we're not going to talk about them. And in then in the movie, they actually show it and how it works. And they, I'll talk about it again later.
01:09:28
Speaker
when we get a little further in the story, there's something else we want to talk
Climactic Confrontations & Resolutions
01:09:31
Speaker
about. Yeah. And we get to that part. That part. That part. So after this, they have like, you know, the little heart to heart moment and like David loves that, you know, Tally was there to understand this and like Tally has this moment of realization like, wow, this is like really messed up. And Tally doesn't question it.
01:09:50
Speaker
right When they say it, she's like, oh, that makes sense because the specials are crazy. and you know that They'll do anything in the city or whatever. and like Nobody thinks to ask her, nobody else like accepts this. Everybody else questions us. and They don't think to say to her, like What did you have an experience in the city that made you question the system? You know, yeah, no nobody thinks to ask her. No, that kind of bothered me, too. Yeah. And so after this, David and Tali share a little kiss. Yeah. OK, and in the movie, I think they do a little more than kiss because it like it's like they kiss and then the next morning they're like both run out of the same tent. I was like, yeah, hello.
01:10:41
Speaker
I thought they were 15. Yeah, I thought we'll just turn 16. I thought she was 16. Yeah, they ran out of the same tent. I was watching with my sister. We both looked at each other. We're like, I'm sorry. Hello? Hello, what are you doing? But OK, so they share a kiss after that. Tally is like, you know what?
01:11:05
Speaker
I'm going to throw this thing. I'm not going to tell anyone about this necklace. Well, in the book, she's like running like they kiss and then she runs away, which is like follow me. And she just like darts off into the jungle, like which is like so weird. She really runs away and she goes to a fire, rips off the necklace. And the whole time, David thinks that the necklace is from like a lover from or like a for someone that she's like in a relationship with or like waiting on in the city.
01:11:34
Speaker
Rips off the necklace and throws it in the fire. David's... David was me. He's like, that was a little dramatic. I do love that he said that. Yeah. But I'd like to point out what an idiot Tali is. Oh, such a... The second she did that, I was like... We all knew. You just activated it. We all done knew. She's so dumb.
01:11:57
Speaker
So surprise, surprise, special circumstances is here. Now knock on your door. She really wakes up the next morning and it's freaking chaos and they're all all special circumstances is here because the destroying the necklace did activate it and everyone is like getting basically handcuffed, ah scanned and they're all going to be taken back to be turned pretty from the spokes.
01:12:26
Speaker
So I think at this point in the book and in the movie, There's some like pretty major differences in like the sequence of events completely different. Yeah. Storylines at this point. Yeah, totally different, which I can kind of understand to an extent. I mean, maybe they wanted less hoverboarding. I don't know because and they're like, we don't have enough budget for this much hoverboarding. She can't walk around without shoes on. Yeah. Right. So I'll start with the book first.
01:13:01
Speaker
So in the book, Tali is captured with everyone else in the smokes and she's resisting with everybody else. And, you know, Corey has this moment of like sitting next to her. He was like, oh, I thought the whole time you were a spy, but you're here like right next to us resisting with us. And Shay is like freaking out like she's like, she up nope it was you. You don't know. Yeah, I was like, shut up, Shay.
01:13:24
Speaker
like, Croy gets like dragged away or something and then they scan, like one of the special circumstance people are like scanning her eye and she, they are like, Oh, there you are, Tally. And then she's like, I know it. And so Tally gets like her handcuffs cut off and she's taking it to Dr. Cable and they're like, thank you for letting us know where you were because they don't know that she actually destroyed the necklace and they think that she activated it.
01:13:50
Speaker
And so she like has this moment where she like pretends like she didn't destroy it. And then yeah jumping forward, she escapes at a hoverboard with no shoes on. OK, moving on. And so David, at this point, is not aware of the betrayal because for some reason he's hiding out in a cave.
01:14:11
Speaker
Okay, so she goes to that Cape because he showed her that Cape before and she's like, I'm gonna go hide in here. And she's like, Oh, hey, look, there's David. And she's like, we need to go save everyone and their mother that were taken from the smokes. And ah we need to go to special circumstance headquarters and save all of them.
01:14:31
Speaker
David's like, OK. Yeah. he's like All right. Let's go. I got it I got supplies. Yeah. He's like, I'm going to follow you and because I've never been there to the city. So eight years of hoverboarding later, we're at Special Circumstances headquarters and they all help all their peeps to escape. And he finds out that his dad has died. OK, but in the process, am I the only one who thought even in the book this whole, we're gonna break into special circumstances and break everyone out was just so fricking easy. Oh, yeah. They're like, okay, have these like random uglies like make a distraction. This is a wrinkle in time. Remember a wrinkle in time when like they have to go back and get Charles Wallace and it's just like, okay, I'll go get him and then she just does. Yeah. That's kind of like, okay, we're gonna go get everybody out and so they just do. Yeah. Also, as definitely is not done.
01:15:28
Speaker
Yeah, no, of course not. Like, oh, yeah. That's just in the movie. No, in the book, in the movie, in the movie, he gone gone. He did. They replaced him with Paris in the movie. Yeah. OK, so yeah. So in the book, they go they try to get all the people from special circumstances. And as they're escaping, the mom says that their dad is dead or David's dad is dead, not their dad.
01:16:02
Speaker
That's not creepy at all. um And then she sees someone walk out and it's Shay turned into a pretty. Shocker. Shocker. Totally predictable. And eventually. So as they're escaping and, you know, they have like this whole moment, like trying to get away, eventually escape. I think there's they escape back to the rusty ruins and are hiding out there. And, you know, as they escaped, David's mom has like a cure or find something of a cure or creates a cure.
01:16:39
Speaker
Yeah. Which was so easy, so quick and easy. In the movie, she just like steals the cure from, yeah yeah was there escaping? Yeah. In the book, at least, it's we stole a tablet while we were escaping and we found a lot of the research and the science and stuff on this tablet and now she can create a cure. and that They were already creating the cure in the movie. They just needed one element that they couldn't yeah get because it was in the city. yeah and knew what it was, they just couldn't get it. Mm-hmm. So at this point, David's mom was being very like sketchy towards Tally. Mm-hmm. Very distant. And so Tally kind of comes to this realization too that like his mom knows that she... She knows. She brought all this onto them.
01:17:25
Speaker
And also, like, once they create this cure, they want Shay to take it because they're like, Shay doesn't want to be a pretty, but Shay's like, she's a pretty now. And Shay was kind of cracking me up this whole time as she's a pretty. She's like in the book, she was kind of funny. Yeah, a little commentary the whole time. And she's like, I only came, like, followed you guys out here because ah I want Tali to be on my pretty with me and I want to bring her back.
01:17:50
Speaker
But so the mom is like, I'm not going to give Shay this cure if she doesn't want it, like if she's not consenting to it. And she says she doesn't want it. And you know, Tally has this moment, which is so random, I feel personally, she's like, I'm going to consent right now that I want to take the cure because they also don't know if it's going to work.
01:18:12
Speaker
Right. You know, it's experimental. Yeah. She's like, I'm going to consent right now to take the cure. I'm going to go back. I'm going to ask to be turned pretty. And then I'm consenting right now to take the cure. And when I come back, you give me the cure and we'll see if it works. But they all she also like admits to David and the to the mom and to everyone, basically, that she was a spy and brought all this to everybody. And David is like living.
01:18:40
Speaker
Fair. That's, you know, kind of how it ends. She like goes back to the city and she's like, make me pretty. And then the book ends. I'm telling young blood, make me pretty. I hate it. I despise it. That was a movie. That was it. OK, movie. Let's go back in time. OK, we're back in time and we're back when special circumstances arrived at the smokes. And for some reason, Paris is here.
01:19:09
Speaker
and he is part of Special Circle Samplants. Wearing his Tron suit. Wearing his Tron suit looking even scarier than what he was before. Looking like a legit robot.
01:19:21
Speaker
Yeah, the cheekbones just keep getting higher. They just keep getting sharper and higher. So David and Talia are like hiding and watching while everyone's getting like arrested. Like I said before. And they're not even hiding well. They're like just behind like an allet that's basically see-through. The budget was low, remember? I'm telling you. They didn't have that many props. So.
01:19:49
Speaker
And he's like, they got everyone. We have to save them. And she's like, please don't leave me. Stay with me behind the palette. So crazy thing happens. Paris comes up to David's dad, snaps his neck.
01:20:04
Speaker
He did. In front of everybody. Just walks right up there and like, whoop. Yep. One hand. Snacks. Snacks. Not even like two hands. Yeah. Snacks. Snacks. Snacks. So David and Tally like run up and freaking out. Everyone's freaking the heck out. Everyone's screaming. And Dr. Cable is there. And Dr. Cable is there. So they they can't help.
01:20:24
Speaker
Yeah, Dr. Cable is there like watching it, and she's like, oh, hello, Tali. Like, thanks for everything for bringing us here. And like everyone witnesses this betrayal. And the whole camp loses their mind. Yeah, yeah. And at this point, so everyone finds out about the betrayal, but David and Tali still escape together.
01:20:47
Speaker
from everyone and they still go back to the city to rescue everyone from special circumstances and Shae still turns pretty. It still has like the same like a similar ending But did it Paris die? Did he die? He falls, he dead I don't think he's dead. oh He falls off the building. Are we going to wait for the sequel? Oh. He falls off the building. Okay, so they're on top of special circumstances and that's when you realize, oh my God, Paris has been thinking about Tally all of his life and his feelings are breaking. His feelings are breaking through.
01:21:28
Speaker
and David is like, oh my god, he's touching her face. He's gonna break the neck. I have a flashback. Yeah, he's having a flashback to his dad So they fight he goes over the building But you don't see him die. He's he still just falls. Yeah. Yeah. I mean he's got a crash bracelet on probably Probably or we saw a lot of you best bungee jacket thing built-in yeah Probably but what I thought was interesting is that at the end of the movie
01:21:59
Speaker
We actually see
Ending & Sequel Speculation
01:22:00
Speaker
her. She goes to back to the city and she goes, make me pretty. And then it goes to where we actually see her turn post off to post-op, turned to a pretty at the very end. And then she actually shows her hand still having the scar that she had before. So I think that's supposed to indicate like her mind is still OK.
01:22:30
Speaker
I don't know. Paris didn't get rid of her scar. Paris kept the scar in the movie, in the movie. He kept the scar for a day or two and then was like, no, I changed my mind. I don't want it anymore. And then right before he goes over the building, he also, he gives himself that scar again. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, we get to see her as a pretty at the end of the movie and then it stops. Like it's supposed to be like a cliffhanger or something.
01:22:56
Speaker
we don't need We don't need the next one, I promise. I was going to say, I'm probably not. I don't care. I don't care. We don't need it. What happens next? Who cares? No, I don't need it. I don't need it.
01:23:08
Speaker
I got enough stuff to read. That's the end of our book versus movie discussion. We basically told you the whole thing so you don't have to go through and witness it. And if you're asking yourself, but wait, what happens? You don't know. We don't care. Wait, what happens to the rest of the series? We don't know. And and we won't find out. no I didn't like it.
Personal Reflections on Beauty & Conclusion
01:23:32
Speaker
All right, let's get to our question of the episode, which is, would you choose to stay ugly and keep your individuality or become pretty but lose some of your personality? I'm fucking gorgeous already.
01:23:51
Speaker
I'll need no surgery. Have you seen this face? It's perfect. No, honestly, like I know I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm in my forties and I'm okay with that. I've never had Botox fillers. I've never had any sort of anything and like I'm happy with myself and my body. So I like who I am. and I don't need any help.
01:24:21
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I feel I kind of feel the same way like maybe I would have said something different like in my early 20s or something, but now I'm just like, I'm about to turn 30. This is just, it is what it is at this point. Let it be. Yeah, I'm gonna stay ugly. Being pretty is too much work. Ugly. Ugly girls. Ugly's for life. Ugly's for life. That was literally the chapter title. Ugly's for life. That's us. All right.
01:24:57
Speaker
ah That wraps up Uglies for Life. If you've made it this far, we appreciate you sticking around for our episode of the Uglies.
01:25:08
Speaker
Don't forget to check out our links in the description for all of our social medias and feel free to leave us a rating and review on Spotify or Apple. Check out our YouTube channel for clips and full length videos of each episode. We also now have a book adaptation submission form because we want to hear from you on what book adaptations worked and what didn't, which will also be linked in the description. So thank you for listening and we will catch you in the next chapter of Facebook.
01:25:37
Speaker
Bye! Uglies for life.